The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-03-17
Experimental Stations.
Agricultural experimental stations are

Experimental Stations.
| Agricultural experimental stations are
now demanded by many of those engaged
in tilling the soil, and Congress is asked
to make an annual appropriation of
upwards of halfa million of dollars for
carrying them on. They are to be
attached to the agricultural colleges,
under the direction of their trustees,
according to the bill now before Con-
gress, and they are to conduct original
researches or verify experiments on the
physiology of plants and animals, the
diseases to which they are severally sub.
ject, with the remedies for the same, the
chemical compositions of useful plants
at their different stages of growth, the
comparative advantages of rotative crop
ping, as pursued under varying series
of crops, the capacity of new plants or
trees for acclimation within the isother.
NAL limits represented by the eli.
mate of the several stations and
their vicinity, the analysis of soils and
water, the chemical composition of
manures, natural or artificial, with
experiments designed to test their COM
parative effects on crops Of grasses and
forage plants, the composition and
digestibility of the different kin offood
for domestic animals, the scientific and
economic questions involved in the
production of butter and cheese, and
such other researches or experiments
bearing directly on the agricultural
industry of the United States as may in
each case be deemed advisable, having
due regard to the varying conditions
and needs Of the respective States.
The experimental stations are to pub
lish bulletins at least once in every three
months, one copy of which shall be sent
to each newspaper in the State in which
they are respectively located and TO such
individuals actually engaged in farming
as may request the same, and as far as
the means of the station will permit.
Such bulletins or reports aud the annual
reports of said stations shall be trans.
emitted in the mails of the United States
free of charge for postage.
The stations in each State are to
receive $4,000, provided they maintain
a farm of at least twenty-five acres, and
out of the first annual appropriation
$4,000 may be expended for Che erection
or repair of buildings.
Agricultural experiments, as Repre-.
sentative Hatch remarks in his report,
are not new thing. They are as old as
the tillage of the soil. Until recently
the existing state of agriculture was
almost exclusively a result of centuries
of crude experimention. But it is only
since the theories of Liebig were organ
lied into working institutions (the exper-
iment stations) that experiments have
been so conducted as to furnish helpful
and authoritative rule of practice. A
scientific experiment is made not for the
purpose of seeking or sustaining theory,
but oflearning fact. 1t mast be con.
Quoted, as far as possible, under ascer.
tanned or controllable conditions, and
where that is not possible, intelligent
allowance for the variation must be made
and stated. Each step must be accurate
ly observed and verified, apd this process
must be repeated under identical condi-
tions, times enough to eliminate every
form oferror The logical process is like
that in support of legal proposition.
The ground must be cleared and the
foundation laid. Each advance in the
argument must rest securely on that
which precedes. No link in the chain
must be omitted. The appropriate
evidence must be marshaled in support
of each point. The Irresistible conclu-
sion follows. Compared with such
process, the ordinary field experiment is
as the buDgliug of an apprentice to the
finished work of the trained artisan.
The work being done by European
stations is equally needed in the United
States, and is already begun in obedience
to an imperative public demand. The
decay of agriculture in the older States,
the deterioration of soils in the frat SET
tied group of new States, the rapid
absorption of public lands, and the
increasing competition of Russia and
India in the food markets of the world
have strongly arrested public attention.
The conviction has become general that
waste must be checked and productive.
ness increased. The growth of intelli.
gent interest in this and similar subjects
among the agricultural community
within a few years past is one of the
most striking and hopeful signs of the
times. The increase of knowledge on
the scientific questions involved in farm
ing, and the growing demand for trust
worthy information, are altogether
unprecedented, and every effort to supply
the demand seems only to stimulate,
rather than to satisfy it. Agricultural
societies, boards Of agriculture and other
organizations have long given important
aid i'm this direction, but the agency
which has improved 80 beneficial abroad
has within the last ten years received
remarkable impulse in our own country.
-American CuLtivator.